


No Answer to Why

by Phaedra_Dahl



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship/Love, Other, Temple of Mara, Undecided Relationship(s), Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 21:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9204875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phaedra_Dahl/pseuds/Phaedra_Dahl
Summary: Summary: The scenes from ‘Dark Force Rising’ always seemed very rushed to me… so I re-wrote it.  In the future books- now that they are no longer canon—it seems that Luke and Mara’s relationship was one sided, at least from Mara’s point of view… but I always felt that it was because Luke was too afraid to lose her even before he would acknowledge feelings for her. So this story explores where that fear comes from.This is a prequel to “The Many Face of Mara”—but maybe a touch darker…I’m really sorry about the super-long intro…but it’s sets the mood.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel or Prequel: prequel to ‘Many Faces of Mara’
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except for the things that emerge from my twisted mind… no money was/is to be made…. All other incidents and characters come from the great and mighty ones…. Lucas and Zahn and other (them that shall not be named)…light the candles, fume the incense, chime the bells and start the chanting.

Excerpt from “Dark Force Rising” by Timothy Zahn, 1992, chapters 28 & 29

Chapter 28:

_…Abruptly, her danger sense tingles. Again she threw the Z-95 into a skid, but this time she was too late. The ship lurched hard, and from behind her came the hissing scream of superheated metal vaporizing into space. “I’m hit!” she snapped, one hand automatically slapping cutoff switches as the other grabbed for her flight suit’s helmet seals and fastened them in place. Just in time; a second hiss, cut off almost before it began, announced the failure of cabin integrity. “Power lost, air lost. Ejecting now.”_

_She reached for the ejection loop…and paused. By chance—or perhaps last –second instinct—her crippled fighter was aimed almost directly at the first Star Destroyer’s hangar entry post. If she could coax a little more power out of the auxiliary maneuvering system…_

_It took a little more than coaxing, but when she finally gripped the eject loop again she had the satisfaction of knowing that even in death, the Z-95 would take a minor bit of revenge on the Empire’s war machine. Not much, but a little._

_She pulled down on the loop, and an instant later was slammed hard into her seat as explosive bolts blew the canopy clear and catapulted her out of the ship. She got a quick glimpse of the Star Destroyer’s portside edge, and even quicker glimpse of a TIE fighter whipping past—_

_And suddenly there was an agonized squeal from the ejection seat’s electronics, and a violent crackle of arching circuits…and with a horrible jolt Mara realized that she may have very well made the last mistake of her life. Intent on aiming her crippled Z-95at the Star Destroyer’s hangar bay, she had drifted too close to the giant ship and ejected directly into the path of the Dreadnaught’s ion beam bombardment._

_And in single crackle of tortured electronics she had lost everything. Her comm, her lights, her limited maneuvering jets, her life support regulator, her emergency beacons._

_Everything._

_For a second her thoughts flickered to Skywalker. He’d had been lost in deep space, too, awhile back. But she’s had a reason to find him. No one had a similar reason to find her._

_A flaming TIE fighter roared past her and exploded. A large piece of shrapnel glanced off the ceramic armor that wrapped partially around her shoulders, slamming her head hard against the side of the headrest._

_And as she fell into the blackness, she saw the Emperor’s face before her. And knew that she had again failed him._

_They were approaching the monitor anteroom just behind the Katana’s bridge when Luke abruptly jerked. “What?” Han snapped, looking quickly around down the corridor behind them._

_“It’s Mara,” the other said, his face tight. “She’s in trouble.”_

_“Hit?” Han asked._

_“Hit and …and lost.” Luke said, forehead straining in connection. “She must have run into one of the ion beams.”_

_The kid was looking like he’d had just lost his best friend, instead of someone who wanted to kill him. Han thought about pointing that out, decided at the last second they had more immediate things to worry about…_

 Chapter 29:

_…The ship Luke had requested was waiting for him in the docking bay, and he was out in space again barely an hour after the destruction of the second Star Destroyer and the retreat of the first._

_Locating a single inert ejection seat among all the debris of battle had been a nearly hopeless task for Karrde’s people. For a Jedi, it was no trick at all._

 

Even without the Force on his side, he could make a difficult task look easy. Finding her was simple. She shone like a bright beacon to him. However, getting her into the safety of a med ward was something  entirely different.

He could easily dodge the debris field between the _Quenfis_ and his target, but it was going to be the debris, on the way back, that might injure her further. Luke tried repeatedly to calm his racing mind: panicking was not going to help her. A mind at peace was going to be of more help. Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation causes your worst fears to come true. A cold shiver came to him inside his cockpit- _fear is part of the Darkside_ , he reminded himself.

As the ejection seat came in sight, he reached out to her. She was injured, not conscious, her life force was weak, and he cringed with what he felt was pain, but she would have no knowledge of it.

With R2’s help, he could maneuver his X-wing in front of her crippled chair and, luckily the fighter had a reasonable tracker beam, as limited as it was.

Reaching out with the Force, he used his Jedi intuition to slowly guided his fighter and Mara’s crippled chair back to the _Quenfis_. The need for a sturdy and slow flight back to the freighter proved to be correct. Small bits of battle shreds littered the distance between her and safety.

Within minutes of collecting her chair and returning, he was safely in range of the hangar bay. Luke let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as the _Quenfis_ ’ tracker beam took over and guided her chair into the air-lock.

As soon as the tracker beam of his X-wing disengaged, Luke raced to land to the nearest available dock.

In what time it would have taken a “normal” human being just to dock, Luke had landed efficiently, propelled himself from the canopy of his ship and raced over to the gnarled chair.

The remnants of the ejection seat showed fried circuitry from the back, and as Luke raced around to the front. He could clearly see the unconscious Mara, with her head lulled to one side. She had been locked into place. Twisted metal wrapped around her shoulders and he could see a visible dent in her helmet. He sucked in air harshly at the shock of her condition.

Time was of the essence, and with a _snap-hiss_ of his lightsabre, the green blade meticulously cut through the metal that bound her to the chair.

Luke worked as fast as he could, and with a Force grab of the obtrusive metal, he hurled it away to somewhere on the deck. With the metal now gone, the crash webbing that had kept her sitting upright, was clearly testing its limits with the weight of her body.

Faintly, Luke heard the footsteps and voices of those running towards them. They were sluggishly closing the distance between the corridor and Luke and Mara, as he approached her listless body.

Gingerly, he unbuckled the center restraint on her chest. With a metallic _click_ , she slumped out the restraints and into Luke’s waiting arms.

Mara’s cold body showed no response from the movement—Luke stretched out his feelings and searched frantically for some sort of response…any sort of response…but nothing came. She was limp and he turned her over. He slowly fell to the deck as he accepted her weight, cradling her in his arms.

His fingers nervously fumbled with the clasps of the seal of her helmet. As it hissed it release, he flung the annoying object away from them too.  

The running feet sounded closer now and he turned his head to see the new arrivals.

Aves and Chin – as he recognized them.  Their faces must have reflected his own turmoil. “You!” he pointed at them, “Go get a medical transport pod!” To his ears, Luke’s voice sounded more distraught than he may have portrayed. The two men, without question, turned-heal and made off to get the pod that was demanded of them.

Luke rocked her body, tried rubbing her shoulders to get some warmth into her. He could sense the life within her, as weak and as fragile as he never wanted to think of her. Mara was an unresponsive doll in his arms- her breathing erratic and labored.

Momentarily, her head tilted backwards, and he stirred with the movement, should he have hurt her with his own movements. Her mouthed opened, and her body coughed hard… and then harder still. Mara’s body was fighting for air. The reflex action of her lungs caused her to heave forward then fall backwards into his arms again.

Unaware, Luke’s hand came up to gently caress her dusty and sullen porcelain skin of her cheek. “Don’t leave me”, he silently begged. 

From under a layer of eyelashes, her eyelids fluttered. Mara’s emerald eyes had dulled slightly, and briefly opened a glimpse, only to close again. Nevertheless, Luke’s heart leapt with hope for more than that passing moment. Her breathing was now slow but consistent.

He knew that the time was coming in which she would have to leave for the medical frigate. From the corner of his eye he could see the figures racing to push the hovering pod towards them. One last moment…maybe the last he would get…he bent his head and tenderly kissed the corner of her mouth.

The sound of boots pummeled the floor, and then a distinct stop, told him that the pod was now here. In a haze of movements, Luke lifted her full weight up and into the pod. Aves set the oxygen level and Chin pressed the controls to stabilize her. Seconds later, they raced off towards the Wild Karrde, leaving Luke watching from the deck. The ship was clearly prepped to move, with the seal of the hatch, the afterburners made steams of light away from the _Quenfis_ on its way to Coruscant.

The actions within the past few minutes had now blurred together in his mind. He breathed deeply gaining his composure—and trying the secure a reason behind his recent actions.

(Chapter 29: Dark Force Rising)

_Wondering why it had been so important for him to rescue Mara in the first place._

_He didn’t know. There were lots of rationalizations he could come up with, from simple gratitude for her assistance in the battle all the way up the saving of lives being a natural part of a Jedi’s duty. But none of them was more than simply a rationalization. All he knew for certain was that he had to do it._

With no answer as to why.

~Fin~


End file.
